The U.S. Copyright Office maintains a system of deposit accounts for the convenience of frequent users of the Office’s services. An individual or a firm can establish a deposit account number, make advance deposits into it, and charge copyright fees against the account balance instead of sending separate remittances with applications and other requests for services.
The U.S. Copyright Office is preparing to make digitized versions of our public copyright records available to the public online. Some of these records (such as registration certificates archived in historical record books, forms and cover sheets, and recorded documents) contain active account numbers. As a result, the Copyright Office is proactively deactivating existing account numbers and providing new account numbers.
Every account holder will have a dedicated Copyright Office staff member to assist them during this transition. Before any action is taken, using the contact information on file, the staff member will inform you of the date your existing account number will be deactivated, provide you with the new number, and be available to answer any questions.
Any saved templates, including eCO templates, that contain a deactivated deposit account number will be discarded by the Copyright Office in the future. Deposit account holders will be able to create new templates immediately upon issuance of the new deposit account number.
The balance of your existing account will be available for use when you receive the new account number.
The effective date of registration is established upon receipt of your application deposit copy and nonrefundable filing fee. During this transition, the U.S. Copyright Office will uphold this policy, and your effective date of registration will not be delayed.
We’ve implemented a new process where the image of the application that appears in the public record will not contain the deposit account number. Therefore, the new account number will not be visible in the public record.
No, these are two different accounts. This change only affects the deposit account that involves non-recordation pilot. Copyright Office services.
We recorded an informational webinar that may answer your questions. You may also download the webinar slides. If you have additional questions regarding deposit accounts, email [email protected] or call (202) 707-6896.